Side trip to Morocco...?

So today started out pretty easy-breezy. We slept in a bit and when we finally did get up we made it downstairs to grab some free breakfast from the hostel common room. Then, after our toast and cereal we walked over to the bus station to buy tickets for Lisbon and today's destination - Cordoba! Unfortunately, the tickets we wanted to get for Lisbon at 3pm tomorrow were all sold out and we had to get the ones for midnight instead! It was definitely a bit of a bummer knowing we'd have to stay up until then and try to get our night's sleep on the bus instead of in a hostel in Lisbon, but at least we don't have to pay for a room for a night! And we've become quite good at napping on all forms of public transportation ;D
Anyways, so once Lisbon was set, we got our tickets for Cordoba and then headed back to the hostel to catch up on our blog posts for an hour before we had to catch the bus. I actually ended up taking a quick nap...my cold is wearing me out! lol. But Tibby was super awesome and got our blog all updated!
Then it was time to get back to the train station, grab a quick snack for the road, and then hop on our bus! The trip was a bit under 2 hours and a pretty easy ride. When we arrived, we immediately got return tickets (for what we thought was at 8pm) and a map before heading out towards the main sight of our visit - the Cordoba Cathedral.


Along the way, we got a taste of the rest of the city and came to realize how much influence there still was left over from the Islamic rule. Cordoba actually was a very important city in the Roman Empire as well, but once it was taken over by the Muslims, it was transformed into a capital city for an Islamic caliphate. Under this rule, the city actually became a huge center of learning and culture - and there is still plenty of evidence left today to testify!
Like I said, it almost felt like we had taken a side-trip to Morocco because of all the Muslim influence. Alongside Spanish fans were Islamic lamps and near the flamenco hair combs were genie-esque beaded slippers! It was quite an experience! Then, of course, there was the architecture. Many of streets - though boasting Spanish names - had numerous Islamic-style windows, doors, coffee shops, and tiled decorations. It really was the most interesting blending of cultures and was very beautiful.

Then, when we finally did reach the Cathedral, we were even more amazed! It was soooooo huge! And it too looked like it would fit better in Morocco or Cairo rather than in Andalusian Spain.
 I gotta say, although the Muslim world has their issues, they sure know how to decorate! Stunning, detailed stone cutting, more tilework, and gilded bronze doors embellished the outside wall of the Cathedral. Inside the walls stood this huge courtyard with beautiful stonework walkways, a fountain, and tons of orange trees! It was so pretty!!

Then, once we bought tickets to actually enter the Cathedral, we were even more amazed! It was soooooo big!! From all the pictures we had seen of the place, we thought it was going to be far smaller - but it seemed to just go on forever and ever! And it was so gorgeous. Due to it's crazy, long history, the Cathedral has gone from being a Roman temple to a Visigoth Christian Church to a Muslim mosque to a Spanish Catholic Cathedral (today it is the cathedral of the Diocese of Cordoba!) and thus, it shows a really amazing blend of different artistic/architectural styles from all those different eras!
There were rows upon rows of Roman columns capped with arches of alternating red brick and white plaster that seemed to stretch into nothing! Gorgeous metal lamps hung from the ceilings too and the light glittered brilliantly off of more intricate tilework and mosaics in certain areas! I wish I could describe fully how beautiful and marvelous this cathedral was to look at - but both Tibby and I agree that there just aren't words! So here's some pics and hopefully they can give you a better idea....

...this was the old clock machine that used to be in that huge tower!

....these are plaster casts of the numerous signatures scratched into the pillars of the Cathedral over the years...

...see?? So cool!!

It really was just stunning!! And we were happy to spend more than an hour just wandering around inside, soaking it all in!
When we officially had our fill, we moved back out into the city streets and weaved in and out of souvenir shops as we made our way back to the bus station. Just before we had to hop back on our bus, we grabbed some sandwiches at a cafe in the train station next door and Tibby did an awesome job with her Spanish - even if it was Mexican Spanish! lol. Unfortunately, once we made it to the bus station to catch our 8:30pm bus, we suddenly realized that the time printed on our tickets was in fact not 8:30, but 4:30!!!! We panicked slightly and ran over to the information booth to try and remedy the situation. Unfortunately he didn't understand English all that well and we had no one to vouch for the fact that we asked for 8:30, but were given an incorrectly printed ticket! The guy basically said he could do nothing for us and we'd have to buy additional tickets at the machine - since the ticket booth was closed. Awesome. So, utterly frustrated and dejected, we headed over to buy 2 more tickets since we couldn't get a freaking refund.
But God totally stepped in and Tibby suddenly spotted the guy who had sold us the faulty tickets a few hours earlier standing behind the glass behind the ticket machine! We immediately waved him down and I shoved the ticket up against the glass, pleading him to see what he had done. Thankfully he understood and a look of apology overcame his features. He then directed us back over to the closed ticket counter, took our tickets, fixed them, and returned them with new seats on the 8:30 bus!!! We were saved!!!!! Seriously - it could not have been a better coincidence!
So, with fixed tickets in hand, we waited a few minutes before the bus arrived and we hopped on, headed back to our comfy hostel in Seville! Hooray!
As soon as we arrived, we also remembered that we had passed a churro stand earlier and immediately rushed over for a celebratory fix! However, the churros we bought were a little different from the ones Tibby was used to from Mexico and I noticed they were a tad bit stale. But they were huge and filled with chocolate, so it wasn't a total bomb.

Also, while we were eating, we noticed that a large crowd of people were gathering along a brightly-lit bridge and all along the river! So we followed and found that a huge festival was happening! People were decked out in their finest and strolling the streets packed full of tents, bars, and carnival booths! Loud music and energetic voices filled our ears and though we still have no idea what the whole thing was for or about, it was just so cool to be in the midst of a true Andalusian street party!! Oh and did I mention that they had a stage set up with live flamenco dancers?? Oh yes.... Though the female wasn't as good as the one we saw last night, there was one set of three guys that did some moves all in unison and THAT was fantastic!! It was all just sooooo cool!!

But eventually our tummies began to rumble for dinner, so we headed back to the hostel to utilized their common kitchen and whip up some pasta and sauce (that we'd been carrying around since Nice!) for a late dinner! It was mighty fine, let me tell you.

So now, with bellies full and at least Tibby's memory card full also, we are headed off to bed - which we will enjoy to the best of our abilities in the knowledge that tomorrow we will have only the bus seats. Ah well, the life of a traveler! ...always glamorous. ;D